Monday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Gregory of Narek (c.944-1010), Armenian monk and poet
Book of prayers, n°18 (SC 78, p. 123 rev.)

"She at once stood up straight and glorified God"

There was a time when I was not, and you created me.
I had not prayed yet you made me.
I had not yet come into the light yet you saw me.
I had not appeared yet you took pity on me.
I had not invoked you yet you cared for me.
I had not signalled yet you looked at me.
I had not craved your pardon yet you had mercy on me.
I had not breathed a word yet you heard me.
I had not sighed yet you listened.

Even though you knew what would now happen to me
you did not despise me.
Even after considering with your foreseeing gaze
the offences of the sinner that I am,
you nonetheless formed me.
And even now may I, whom you created,
whom you saved,
who have been the object of such care,
not be lost forever by the wounds of sins
aroused in me by the Accuser!...

Bound, paralyzed,
bent double like the afflicted woman,
my poor soul is unable to stand upright.
It cleaves to the earth beneath the weight of sin
because of Satan's heavy bonds...
Incline towards me, Merciful One,
poor fallen, thinking tree.
Make me flower again in beauty and splendor,
I who am withered and dry,
according to the divine words spoken by the holy prophet (Ez 17,22-24)...
You who alone are our Protector
deign to cast your glance at me
out of the concern of your inexpressible love...
and, out of nothing, you will create within me
light itself. (cf. Gn 1,3).

'When you covet that which delights you, think not only of the sweet moments of enjoyment, but of the long season of regret which must follow.'

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42).

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 13
10.	And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath.	Erat autem docens in synagoga eorum sabbatis.	ην δε διδασκων εν μια των συναγωγων εν τοις σαββασιν
11.	And behold there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bowed together, neither could she look upwards at all.	Et ecce mulier, quæ habebat spiritum infirmitatis annis decem et octo : et erat inclinata, nec omnino poterat sursum respicere.	και ιδου γυνη ην πνευμα εχουσα ασθενειας ετη δεκα και οκτω και ην συγκυπτουσα και μη δυναμενη ανακυψαι εις το παντελες
12.	Whom when Jesus saw, he called her unto him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity.	Quam cum videret Jesus, vocavit eam ad se, et ait illi : Mulier, dimissa es ab infirmitate tua.	ιδων δε αυτην ο ιησους προσεφωνησεν και ειπεν αυτη γυναι απολελυσαι της ασθενειας σου
13.	And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.	Et imposuit illi manus, et confestim erecta est, et glorificabat Deum.	και επεθηκεν αυτη τας χειρας και παραχρημα ανωρθωθη και εδοξαζεν τον θεον
14.	And the ruler of the synagogue (being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath) answering, said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you ought to work. In them therefore come, and be healed; and not on the sabbath day.	Respondens autem archisynagogus, indignans quia sabbato curasset Jesus, dicebat turbæ : Sex dies sunt in quibus oportet operari : in his ergo venite, et curamini, et non in die sabbati.	αποκριθεις δε ο αρχισυναγωγος αγανακτων οτι τω σαββατω εθεραπευσεν ο ιησους ελεγεν τω οχλω εξ ημεραι εισιν εν αις δει εργαζεσθαι εν ταυταις ουν ερχομενοι θεραπευεσθε και μη τη ημερα του σαββατου
15.	And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on the sabbath day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water?	Respondens autem ad illum Dominus, dixit : Hypocritæ, unusquisque vestrum sabbato non solvit bovem suum, aut asinum a præsepio, et ducit adaquare ?	απεκριθη ουν αυτω ο κυριος και ειπεν υποκριται εκαστος υμων τω σαββατω ου λυει τον βουν αυτου η τον ονον απο της φατνης και απαγαγων ποτιζει
16.	And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?	Hanc autem filiam Abrahæ, quam alligavit Satanas, ecce decem et octo annis, non oportuit solvi a vinculo isto die sabbati ?	ταυτην δε θυγατερα αβρααμ ουσαν ην εδησεν ο σατανας ιδου δεκα και οκτω ετη ουκ εδει λυθηναι απο του δεσμου τουτου τη ημερα του σαββατου
17.	And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him.	Et cum hæc diceret, erubescant omnes adversarii ejus : et omnis populus gaudebat in universis, quæ gloriosæ fiebant ab eo.	και ταυτα λεγοντος αυτου κατησχυνοντο παντες οι αντικειμενοι αυτω και πας ο οχλος εχαιρεν επι πασιν τοις ενδοξοις τοις γινομενοις υπ αυτου

10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
11. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
12. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.
13. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said to the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
15. The Lord then answered him, and said, you hypocrite, do not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or or ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
16. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
17. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

AMBROSE; He soon explained that He had been speaking of the synagogue, showing, that He truly came to it, who preached in it, as it is said, And he was teaching in one of the synagogues.

CHRYS. He teaches indeed not separately, but in the synagogues; calmly, neither wavering in any thing, nor determining aught against the law of Moses; on the Sabbath also, because the Jews were then engaged in the hearing of the law.

CYRIL; Now that the Incarnation of the Word was manifested to destroy corruption and death, and the hatred of the devil against us, is plain from the actual events; for it follows, And behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity, &c. He says spirit of infirmity, because the woman suffered from the cruelty of the devil, forsaken by God because of her own crimes or for the transgression of Adam, on account of which the bodies of men incur infirmity and death. But God gives this power to the Devil, to the end that men when pressed down by the weight of their adversity might betake them to better things. He points out the nature of her infirmity, saying, And was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

BASIL; Because the head of the brutes is bent down towards the ground and looks upon the earth, but the head of man was made erect towards the heaven, his eyes tending upward. For it becomes us to seek what is above, and with our sight to pierce beyond earthly things.

CYRIL; But our Lord, to show that His coming into this world was to be the loosing of human infirmities, healed this woman. Hence it follows, And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. A word most suitable to God, full of heavenly majesty; for by His royal assent He dispels the disease.

He also laid His hands upon her, for it follows, He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. We should here answer, that the Divine power had put on the sacred flesh. For it was the flesh of God Himself, and of no other, as if the Son of Man existed apart from the Son of God, as some have falsely thought. But the ungrateful ruler of the synagogue, when he saw the woman, who before was creeping on the ground, now by Christ's single touch made upright, and relating the mighty works of God, sullies his zeal for the glory of the Lord with envy, and condemns the miracle, that he might appear to be jealous for the Sabbath.

As it follows, And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said to the people, There are six days in which men ought to work, and not on the sabbath-day. He would have those who are dispersed about on the other days, and engaged in their own works, not come on the Sabbath to see and admire our Lord's miracles, lest by chance they should believe. But the law has not forbidden all manual work on the Sabbath-day, and has it forbidden that which is done by a word or the mouth? Cease then both to eat and drink and speak and sing. And if you read not the law, how is it a Sabbath to you? But supposing the law has forbidden manual works, how is it a manual work to raise a woman upright by a word?

AMBROSE; Lastly, God rested from the works of the world not from holy works, for His working is constant and everlasting; as the Son says, My Father works until now, and I work; that after the likeness of God our worldly, not our religious, works should cease. Accordingly our Lord pointedly answered him, as it follows, You hypocrite, do not each on of you on the sabbath-day loose his ox or his ass? &c.

BASIL; The hypocrite is one who on the stage assumes a different character from his own. So also in this life some men carry one thing in their heart, and show another on the surface to the world.

CHRYS. Well then does he call the ruler of the synagogue a hypocrite, for he had the appearance of an observer of the law, but in his heart was a crafty and envious man. For it troubles him not that the Sabbath is broken, but that Christ is glorified. Now observe, that whenever Christ orders a work to be done, (as when He ordered the man sick of the palsy to take up his bed,) He raises His words to something higher, convincing men by the majesty of the Father, as He says, My Father works until now, and I work. But in this place, as doing every thing by word, He adds nothing further, refuting their calumny by the very things which they themselves did.

CYRIL; Now the ruler of the synagogue is convicted a hypocrite, in that he leads his cattle to watering on the Sabbath-day, but this woman, not more by birth than by faith the daughter of Abraham, he thought unworthy to be loosed from the chain of her infirmity. Therefore He adds, And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day? The ruler preferred that this woman should like the beasts rather look upon the earth than receive her natural stature, provided that Christ was not magnified. But they had nothing to answer; they themselves unanswerably condemned themselves.

Hence it follows, And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed. But the people, reaping great good from His miracles, rejoiced at the signs which they saw, as it follows, And all the people rejoiced;. For the glory of His works vanquished every scruple in them who sought Him not with corrupt hearts.

GREG. Mystically the unfruitful fig tree signifies the woman that was bowed down. For human nature of its own will rushes into sin, and as it would not bring forth the fruit of obedience, has lost the state of uprightness. The same fig tree preserved signifies the woman made upright.

AMBROSE; Or the fig tree represents the synagogue; afterwards in the infirm woman there follows as it were a figure of the Church, which having fulfilled the measure of the law and the resurrection, and now raised up on high in that eternal resting place, can no more experience the frailty of our weak inclinations. Nor could this woman be healed except she had fulfilled the law and grace. For in ten sentences is contained the perfection of the law, and in the number eight the fullness of the resurrection.

GREG. Or else; man was made on the sixth day, and on the same sixth day were all the works of the Lord finished, but the number six multiplied three times makes eighteen. Because then man who was made on the sixth day was unwilling to do perfect works, but before the law, under the law, and at the beginning of grace, was weak, the woman was bowed down eighteen years.

AUG. That which the three years signified in the tree, the eighteen did in the woman, for three times six is eighteen. But she was crooked and could not look up, for in vain she heard the words, lift up your hearts.

GREG. For every sinner who thinks earthly things, not seeking those that are in heaven, is unable to look up. For while pursuing his baser desires, he declines from the uprightness of his state; or his heart is bent crooked, and he ever looks upon that which he unceasingly thinks about. The Lord called her and made her upright, for He enlightened her and succored her. He sometimes calls but does not make upright, for when we are enlightened by grace, we oft-times see what should be done, but because of sin do not practice it. For habitual sin binds down the mind, so that it cannot rise to uprightness. It makes attempts and fails, because when it has long stood by its own will, when the will is lacking, it falls.

AMBROSE; Now this miracle is a sign of the coming sabbath, when every one who has fulfilled the law and grace, shall by the mercy of God put off the toils of this weak body. But why did He not mention any more animals, save to show that the time would come when the Jewish and Gentile nations should quench their bodily thirst, and this world's heat in the fullness of the fountain of the Lord, and so through the calling forth of two nations, the Church should be saved.

BEDE; But the daughter of Abraham is every faithful soul, or the Church gathered out of both nations into the unity of the faith. There is the same mystery then in the ox or ass being loosed and led to water, as in the daughter of Abraham being released from the bondage of our affections.

Catena Aurea Luke 13

Christ Heals a Woman Bent-over and the Parable of the Fig Tree

Alexander Master

c. 1430
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague

Saint Anthony Mary Claret, bishop

Saint Anthony Mary Claret, bishop
Optional Memorial
October 24th

unknown

Saint Anthony was born in Sallent, Spain. He worked as a missionary preacher in Catalonia and the Canary Islands. As Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, he fought for humane conditions for slaves. Later he became the confessor of the Queen of Spain, and led a revival of the faith in that country. In 1849 he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ( the Claretians).

Collect:
O God, who for the evangelization of peoples
strengthened the Bishop Saint Anthony Mary Claret
with admirable charity and long-suffering,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things that are yours,
we may earnestly devote ourselves
to winning our brothers and sisters for Christ.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.

First Reading: Isaiah 52: 7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."

And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed Him.

Saint Anthony Mary Claret:Spanish Light Of The Church[Founder of the Claretians]
The Life Of St. Anthony Mary Claret: Spanish Light Of The Church

Information: St. Anthony Mary Claret

Feast Day: October 24

Born: December 23, 1807, Sallent

Died: October 24, 1870, Fontfroide

Canonized: May 7, 1950 by Pope Pius XII

Patron of: Textile Merchants, Weavers, Savings (taught the poor the importance of savings), Catholic press, Claretians Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/1024_anthony.asp

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Anthony Claret

Feast Day: October 24
Born: 1807 :: Died: 1870

Anthony was born at Catalonia in Spain and the same year Napoleon attacked Spain.

In 1835 he became a priest and was sent to his home parish. Later he went to Rome and worked to help the missions. He joined the Jesuits as a novice, but his became ill.

So he returned to Spain and became a pastor. But Father Anthony knew that the whole world was a mission field and he had the heart of a missionary. He was a dedicated preacher in his parish. He gave conferences to priests.

Father Anthony knew how powerful books were to reach people and he wrote at least 150 books. His most well-known book, The Right Way, has reached millions of people.

Some people did not understand the work that Father Anthony did. His success made them very unhappy. But the Lord allowed people to find fault with his work so that this energetic priest could visit the Canary Islands.

He spent a year there preaching the Good News and then returned to Catalonia, Spain. In 1849, Anthony started a new religious order called the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are known as the Claretians.

Queen Isabella II of Spain thought highly of St. Anthony. She suggested that he was the best person to become archbishop of Santiago, Cuba. And he spent seven exciting years as Archbishop in Cuba.

Archbishop Anthony visited parishes, speaking out against social evils, especially slavery. He blessed marriages and baptized children. He made many changes in Cuba, but this made him many enemies.

He received death threats often but did not stop his wonderful work until he was called back to Spain in 1857.

Anthony was head of a seminary in Madrid and he established the school of St. Michael to encourage arts and literature and even tried to start a school of agriculture.

He went to Rome to help prepare for the First Vatican Council in 1869 but died in 1870.

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: October 24th

Optional Memorial of St. Anthony Claret, bishop

MASS READINGS

October 24, 2016 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who for the evangelization of peoples strengthened the Bishop Saint Anthony Mary Claret with admirable charity and long-suffering, grant, through his intercession, that, seeking the things that are yours, we may earnestly devote ourselves to winning our brothers and sisters for Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (1)

Cuban Beans and Rice

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Activities (1)

All About the Angels

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Prayers (2)

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Library (1)

Devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary: Its Origin and History | Alliance of Two Hearts & Immaculate Mediatrix

Old Calendar: St. Raphael the Archangel

Today the Church celebrates the optional memorial of St. Anthony Claret, bishop, the founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Anthony Mary Claret died in the Cistercian monastery at Fontfroide in France on this date in 1870. He was canonized in 1950 and listed in the Roman Calendar in 1960.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Raphael, the Archangel. In the Ordinary Form this feast is celebrated on September 29 with two other archangels, St. Michael and St. Gabriel.

St. Anthony Claret
Anthony was born at Salent in the Diocese of Vich in Catalonia, Spain, in the year in which Napoleon invaded Spain. He was trained for manual labor, since his father was a weaver, but in 1829 he entered the seminary at Vich. Ordained to the priesthood in 1835, he was assigned as pastor in his home parish. Later he went to Rome to work for the Propagation of the Faith. He also entered the novitiate of the Jesuits but had to leave because of ill health, so he returned to Spain and was assigned as pastor of a parish. His apostolate consisted of rural preaching, conferences for the clergy and publications (he wrote more than 150 books). Because of his successful apostolate he aroused the animosity of some of the clergy and as a result he left Catalonia for the Canary Islands (1848). After a year he returned to Catalonia and resumed his preaching apostolate.

In 1849 Anthony gathered together five priests who formed the basis of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (popularly known as Claretians). At the suggestion of the Queen of Spain, Isabella II, Anthony was named archbishop of Santiago, Cuba (1850). For the next seven years he made pastoral visitations, preached against the slavery of the Negroes, and regularized numerous marriages. As a result of his activity he was frequently threatened with death and on one occasion an attempt was actually made on his life. In 1857 he was recalled to Spain as confessor to the queen. In this way he was able to exert some influence in the naming of bishops, set up a center of ecclesiastical studies at the Escorial, and work towards the recognition of religious orders in Spain. In 1869 he was in Rome, preparing for the First Vatican Council. He followed Isabella II into exile and at the insistence of the Spanish ambassador, was placed under house arrest in the Cistercian monastery at Fontfroide, where he died at the age of 63. His remains were ultimately returned to Vich.

Excerpted from Saints of the Roman Calendar by Enzo Lodi

Patron: Catholic press; Claretians; Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; weavers; savings banks; foundations.

Things to Do:

Read more about the life of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Autobiography of St. Anthony Mary Claret or order The Autobiography of St. Anthony Mary Claret: Priest, missionary, archbishop, and founder of the Congregation of Missionaries, Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and read his own words.
St. Anthony was interested in the Catholic press, and the Claretians continue the publishing apostolate. Every Catholic home should have a healthy collection of good Catholic books, both for young and old, and these should be read and displayed prominently;
St. Anthony spoke at Vatican Council I. Learn more about this Church council and its teaching on papal infallibility in particular.

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for October 24, 2016:

What is something you’ve always dreamed of doing? Make a bucket list with your spouse and talk about how you can fulfill those “someday” dreams.

Regnum Christi

October 24, 2016 – Jesus Blows me Out of my Comfort Zone – Again!

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Father James Swanson, LC

Luke 13:10-17

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you with a faith that never seeks to test you. I trust in you, hoping to learn to accept and follow your will, even when it does not make sense to the way that I see things. May my love for you and those around me be similar to the love you have shown to me.

Petition: Lord, protect me from spiritual old age.

1. Jesus Is Showing his Messiah Credentials Again: Jesus’ opponents were desperate. They didn’t want to believe that he was the Messiah, and they especially didn’t want anyone else to think he was the Messiah. But there was the pesky problem of his miracles. They knew that when God sent someone to speak for him, he usually performed signs through the person so that people would believe in him. The sign was proof that the person (Jesus in this case) was sent by God. Jesus was doing plenty of miracles, which most people were taking as the sign that he was sent by God. What could Jesus’ opponents do? They could only try to discredit the miracles any way possible.

2. You Can Do a Lot More than You Think on the Sabbath: This miracle was done on the Sabbath. The head of the synagogue had a problem with that. Didn’t God himself rest on the sixth day? Oughtn’t we to do the same? How does this Jesus heal on the Sabbath if he is truly from God? In fact, there were many exceptions to the rules about the Sabbath. In another place, Jesus himself says that the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Certainly, the observance of the Sabbath was always subject to the practice of charity, that it was always permissible to break the Sabbath rest in the case when needed to do some necessary act of charity for another. Jesus mentions situations when for practical reasons (necessary farm chores, like watering animals) work can be done without breaking the Sabbath rest.

3. Lord, Please Let me Keep my Mediocrity: And so, there is really nothing to the objection. The head of the synagogue does not want to believe because what Jesus says and does seems threatening to him. If Jesus is the Messiah, he foresees having to change his life, and he does not want to do that. He may not even realize that this is his real objection, but it is. We can be this way, too. We don’t want to accept something Jesus teaches us through his Church because it would mean that we have to change our lives, and we don’t want to. We are comfortable the way we are. If we had to do what Jesus asks, it would take us out of our comfort zone. Sometimes it is mere fear of something different. Jesus always is offering us something different, but we don’t want it. We want to stay in our rut. We have surrounded ourselves with limited horizons and are afraid to stretch them.

Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, help me to accept you fully. If I am rejecting you or your teaching without realizing it, show me. Help me to overcome my attempt to construct my own little universe in which I am God. If I have grown old spiritually, renew my youth and help me break through my restricted, shrunken horizons that exclude you.

Resolution: Where in my life have I settled into spiritual routine and old age? Do I habitually skip some prayer I should be saying, telling myself it isn’t that important? I will make an extra effort to pray it today. Is there some other aspect of my spiritual or moral life that I have removed to make life “more comfortable” for me? Time to start doing it again!

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 32, Issue 6

<< Monday, October 24, 2016 >>

St. Anthony Mary Claret

Ephesians 4:32—5:8
View Readings

Psalm 1:1-4, 6

Luke 13:10-17
Similar Reflections

THE SLIDE RULES?

"Make no mistake about this: no fornicator, no unclean or lustful person — in effect an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." —Ephesians 5:5

Years ago before there were electronic calculators, there were slide rules by which certain types of computations could be easily made. Today, possibly more than ever, we have a different kind of slide rule. Many people have let rules, laws, standards, convictions, and commandments slide. For example, Jesus told us to gouge out our eyes if we were tempted to look lustfully (Mt 5:28-29). The Lord made clear that "lewd conduct or promiscuousness or lust of any sort" should be not mentioned (Eph 5:3). "Nor should there be any obscene, silly, or suggestive talk" (Eph 5:4).

Many people are slipping and sliding regarding these rules and commands from Jesus. Many in our culture used to think that lust was wrong. Then lust without fornication became acceptable to many. Next, fornication without adultery was OK in the sliding scale of values. Then sexual promiscuity with contraception and without pregnancy and abortion was OK. As sexual morality slid ever downward, heterosexual relations, including abortion, was OK as long as it wasn't a late-term abortion. Sodomy and sado-masochistic sex were once looked down on. Now almost any perversion is flaunted except sexually abusing children. What's next? Rape, demonic sexual rituals, bestiality, orgies, etc. When we let the truth slide, we find out how deep the pits of perversion are. Turn to Jesus, the Truth Who never changes.

Prayer: Father, by the truth free me from the slavery caused by permissiveness.

Promise: "He laid His hand on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began thanking God." —Lk 13:13

Praise: St. Anthony opposed godlessness in both Spain and Cuba. He continued to preach Christ in the face of several assassination attempts.